In Reply to: For all the CMC haters, Xavier Booker is a perfect example of posted by jcbruin on April 02, 2025 at 07:37:02
I wouldn’t call myself a hater, though I recognize that I’ve been critical—particularly when it comes to his postgame criticism of players and his handling of Mara.
I’m not as familiar with the Booker situation as I am with Mara’s. With Mara, we all watched it unfold game after game. Without following Booker’s case as closely, it’s hard to say definitively whether Izzo mismanaged him. I’d be curious to see if his playing time splits were similar to Mara’s. We all know that when Mara played over 20 minutes, the Bruins’ chances of winning increased significantly. Did Booker provide the same kind of impact that Mara did? The Bruins’ frontcourt struggled defensively—there was no shot-blocker, and we were often out-rebounded. The only justifiable reason I can see for keeping Mara off the floor was the need for offense from Tyler and Eric. But defensively, those two were getting pushed around just as much. The difference was that when it happened to Mara, it stood out more—because he was 7'3"! Eventually, we saw that Mara contributed enough offensively to warrant more playing time.
I also question his minutes early in the season when we were facing weaker opponents. I don’t understand why there wasn’t a stronger effort to get him into game shape. I get that he was coming off an injury, but by the second or third week, he should have been playing consistently—and that never happened. My guess is that Cronin always planned to go small, with Tyler at the 5, so he prioritized getting him as much time there as possible. I think this was a mistake. He may have believed he had more time with Aday, but given the current landscape of college basketball, that was a miscalculation.
That said, despite my disappointment, I think this is the best outcome for everyone. I’m convinced that Cronin simply doesn’t see Mara as a good fit for his defensive system. I couldn’t handle another season of Cronin benching him for every missed assignment. Hopefully, Cronin finds a player who fits his needs, and Mara finds a coach who knows how to maximize his talents.